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San Diego Brewers Guild Beer Festival

I love beer. There, I’ve said it. It’s out in the open now. You know it and I know it. I can now write this post without restraint.

I like all kinds of beers. I like ales and lagers; stouts, porters and pales; import and micro; light and dark; imperial, dubbel and tripel; lambic, gueuze and fruit. I was able to taste many of these different kinds recently.

On Saturday night Mel and I attended the San Diego Brewers Guild Beer Festival at the Balboa Park World Beat Center. The festival is a non-profit event benefiting the Brewers Guild and the Beat Center music program. Thanks to a friend’s recommendation we purchased the VIP tickets, and boy were we glad we did. The VIP tasting was from 5-7 and was significantly less crowded and had some special beers available.

San Diego has a world renowned group of local breweries. While San Diego and the West Coast in general are known for our strong IPA style ales (my personal favorites) most breweries are branching out into many different styles and experimenting with lots of different ingredients. We sampled many of those different beers. Below is a list of beers we tasted during the 3 hours we were there. I certainly wasn’t taking tasting notes, but I can say that each beer was excellently made.

Green Flash Le Freak Belgian Style IPA

Pizza Port Solana Beach Barrel Aged Stunna Shades Stout

Coronado Brewing Saison by the Sea

Alpine Beer Company Boris Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee Stout

AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple Ale

Rock Bottom Belgian Abbey Ale

Rock Bottom Espresso Oatmeal Stout on Cask

Karl Strauss Sour Red Blend

Firehouse Autumn Ale

Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi Golden Ale

Green Flash Palate Wrecker Imperial IPA

Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA

San Diego Brewing Company Hopnotic

Alpine Beer Company Icabod Bavarian Spiced Dunkel Weizen

La Jolla Brew House Nut Brown Ale

I highly recommend the Brewers Guild Festival and specifically the VIP session next year to any San Diego beer fans.